Tag Archive: Queer Liberation

We are overjoyed. His bail was $35K and he was released very early on the morning of the 17th. He is in very high spirits and is currently resting with his friends and family. Luke has still not been indicted and there is still need for much more money to cover lawyers and legal costs.

Luke is overwhelmed and grateful for all of the support he has received so far.

On the night of New Years Eve this year, there was an incident of violence that occurred at a party which left six people stabbed and/or beaten in the Reynoldstown neighborhood of Atlanta. One man, Luke O’Donovan, was taken to the hospital with multiple bruises and also stab wounds on his back, was arrested. The police and media narrative, based on the words of those present at the party, states that Luke left the party angry, returned with a knife and, as we’ve seen portrayed in recent coverage of mass shootings in the U.S., returned to attack those who enraged him. (more…)

It has been reported in the press that Luke O’Donovan, 19, went on a “stabbing rampage” at a New Year’s Eve party in Reynoldstown, a neighborhood in Atlanta, GA. This is not accurate. The events that occurred were the result of Luke O’Donovan desperately defending himself against a clear act of queer-bashing that included Luke being stabbed in the back.

Some facts of the situation remain unclear, but the events that have been reported thus far are inaccurate. Narratives have described Luke O’Donovan, 19, as having returned to a house party that he had been kicked out of. The reports state that Luke returned with a knife and stabbed one person, and then 4 others who attempted to subdue Luke.

As multiple witnesses have testified and will testify, Luke was never kicked out of the party and did not leave. He remained at the house where the party was occurring up until the incident. This basic fact, and the fact that it has been misrepresented, changes the story as it has been reported thus far. Luke is being portrayed as having gone on a nearly unfounded “stabbing rampage” comparable to recent mass killings. This is false. Luke did not go to the party intending to initiate conflict with anyone. Just fifteen minutes before the fight, Luke was present in the living room of the house, having a pleasant and friendly conversation with other people at the party. (more…)

From Noy Yr Cister PressGender Anarky members Amazon and Catarina LePre restarted their hunger strike on October 5th after promised changes to trans women’s housing were not met by Warden Paramo and their case worker at the R. J. Donovan Correctional Facility. Warden Paramo and Amazon’s case worker promised to change the housing conditions of trans women in the facility after a number of days of hunger striking, but has not implemented any changes. In response, they have chosen to strike indefinitely until the changes have been implemented. In a recent communication from Amazon, she describes the situation:

“this time we are striking indefinitely, until this matter is resolved and i am no longer on single-cell status and cat and i are celled up. today [October 7th] is our third day without food, and we are only drinking two bottles of water a day. after food, we are going to stop drinking any water. they are monitoring our health daily, taking our vitals. so far we have lost ten pounds each, as of today. cat gets a lil woozy, but we are going thru with this… (more…)

Two trans women incarcerated in the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County have been on hunger strike for over a week in an attempt to be allowed to share a cell together. Because they are trans, prison officials refuse to take them off single-cell status. Presumably, they have both been restricted to being in single cells to prevent them from having to share a cell with a man, however, it’s clear that this is not for their own protection when there are two of them and they want to share a cell together.

What do a nineteen-year-old lesbian from New Jersey, a 23-year-old trans woman in Minneapolis and a 31-year-old mother in Florida have in common? All three were attacked, all three fought back and all three were arrested. All three are currently in prison while their attackers remain free. Oh, yes, and all three are black women.

Marissa Alexander is a 31-year-old mother of three. She is also a survivor of violence at the hands of her ex, Rico Gray. In 2009, Alexander obtained a restraining order against Gray. (more…)

Then-Lt. Gen. George Flynn, who reportedly directed PFC Bradley Manning’s illegal pretrial confinement conditions.Every time I attend a Bradley Manning hearing the prosecutors show their outrageous disrespect for the law, demonstrate they cannot be trusted and that this prosecution should not proceed.

Beginning on November 27, the defense will argue a long-delayed motion to dismiss for unlawful pretrial punishment. In a moment of high drama, Bradley is likely to testify about his nine months in solitary confinement during the argument of this motion.

Prosecutors Are Caught Hiding More than One Thousand Emails about Manning’s Confinement

The most recent reason for the delay in the hearing was the government was caught hiding 1,374 emails relevant to the confinement of Bradley Manning. (more…)

In a coordinated set of actions, Bradley Manning supporters–led by veterans including Scott Olsen–rallied at and occupied Obama campaign offices on the West Coast yesterday, twelve arrested

Six veterans and activists in Oakland, and six more in Portland, OR, were arrested Thursday night at Obama campaign offices for occupying the spaces in solidarity with accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower PFC Bradley Manning. Dozens of veterans and anti-war demonstrators coordinated a West Coast set of actions that also included protests in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Seattle. (more…)

David E. Coombs, attorney for accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning, has made public a motion“to dismiss all charges owing to the unlawful pretrial punishment to which PFC Manning was subjected while at Marine Corps Base, Quantico.” Manning spent close to nine months in solitary confinement in the Brig at Quantico, from July 2010 to April 2011, before being transferred into less restrictive conditions at Fort Leavenworth.

Manning was held in conditions that were denounced as “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” by UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez. His lawyer is now arguing that they were also in “flagrant violation” of military code. Keep in mind that Manning had not–and still has not–been convicted of any crime, nor had he been accused of any disciplinary violations while in custody.

According to the motion, as summarzied on Coombs’s website, “a decision had been made early on at Quantico to keep PFC Manning in MAX Custody and in Prevention of Injury (POI) status — in effect, the functional equivalent of solitary confinement.” The motion further argues that “Multiple psychiatrists at the Quantico Brig recommended for almost nine months that PFC Manning be downgraded from POI status. The psychiatrists informed Quantico Brig officials that PFC Manning’s POI status was not warranted because he did not present a risk to himself and that the POI status was actually causing PFC Manning psychological harm. The psychiatrists’ recommendations were outright ignored by Quantico officials.”

The defense claims it has documents that “reveal that the senior Brig officer who ordered PFC Manning to be held in MAX and in POI was receiving his marching orders from a three-star general. They also reveal that everyone at Quantico was complicit in the unlawful pretrial punishment, from senior officers to enlisted marines.”

Many aspects of Bradley Manning’s conditions of confinement at Quantico will sound familiar to the tens of thousands of American prisoners who have spent time in solitary confinement in supermax prisons and Special Housing Units. Additional restrictions were put in place supposedly because he was at risk of harming himself, though they in fact seem only to have added to his torture. (more…)